Willosaur

Creator

Biological classification

Physical characteristics

Locomotion

Sociocultural characteristics

"Willosaur" has been featured, meaning it was deemed an article of interest by the Community.

The Willosaur (also known as Tripod, Willosaurus, or just Main Character) was a tripedal, triocular, carnivorous creature showcased by Will Wright at the Game Developers' Conference in 2005. Originally nameless, fans quickly began to refer to the creature thus, combining '"Will" with "-saur" (a suffix meaning "lizard", often used in names of dinosaurs) referring to its creator and its similarity to a dinosaur.

The dominant culture of Willosaurs live on their home planet Tamaran, a Dr. Seuss-style city with multi-colored, rounded buildings. They also retained some of their creator's humor in the Space Stage, where their old enemies were dropped onto the nearby planet Frore, which has no atmosphere; thus the creature exploded.

Although the Willosaur was not the first creature ever created in Spore (the first ever was the Debug Squid), it is the first to ever be fully used and go through every stage of the game. The GDC video has a full gameplay footage of Willosaur on YouTube.[1]

Contents

The Willosaur created on March 11, 2005 at the Game Developer's Conference, started its evolution in the aquatic world as a mosasaur-looking triocular creature. It quickly evolved into the modern incarnation. Its spine shifted up, and a prehensile hand was attached to the end of its tail. The two flippers became legs, and a new front leg appeared on the chest. The creatures eventually developed sentience in the Tribal Stage, and were seen performing a "spear-dance" to applause from the GDC audience. The Willosaurs developed technology early, possibly attributable to Will Wright's likely possession of a debugger.

As pf today's Spore, Willosaurs are nowhere to be found as a creature in the Sporepedia. However, they appear mostly as an "Easter egg" thoughout the game. The Creature Stage Unlocked achievement has an icon of a Willosaur, and it also appears in the Spore Glyphics. Two creatures created by Maxis also resemble a Willosaur very closely; these go by the names of Tripod Neuvo and Mini-tri.